The list of seven is the truth, according to the writer, Mr. Bruno. Also remember that Bruno said we had seen "him" by season 3.I'd say it is either Bertram or Partridge, guys.
1.) Brett Stiles is a good actor for the part, but much too old, and I don't think Red John would have helped Jane break Lorelei out of jail. We k now that RJ was a teenager in the 1980s or so, and that is voice is thin and reedy from hearing him on the phone. The connection to Visualize is a misleader. Plus he is bald, and I don't think that the blind lady from forever ago would mistake that. and great gods, RJ's voice is nothing like Stiles'.
2.) Everybody likes Kirkland for it, but I'm pretty sure he's just a red herring, like Bruno (the writer) loves doing. He is shown shaking Jane's hand just to mislead the audience. He's a total tool, and not nearly as cunning as Red John would be, and when is the last time RJ has killed a suspect himself, that didn't try to "move in" or "copy" him? Never. Not his M.O.. A lot of people go into that his closing epsidode's name was "something rotten in REDmund" which I think is just another red herring. (Seeing him break into Jane's room for his evidence, for the purpose of creating that film, doesn't matter, the film with Lorelei is already made and she's dead by then.)
3.) Sherrif McCalister? You're kidding me, right? We saw him once, in S1 E1, and although he was a total creep to the fair Van Pelt, there's no way he has the connections with "all the townsies" that know him so well and enough time to play RJ. I wonder why he's on the list. (Plus the Sheriff has a mustache, and RJ doesn't, if that counts for anything, and he's too tall.)
4.) A lot of people like Haffner for it, but he isn't nearly intelligent enough, he looks too old, and his actor's acting abilities don't fit the bill. Two of his episodes weren't directed by Bruno or by His placing in visualize earlier is way too comfortable, and his involvement in the Red Barn case is equally circumspect. Also, since we know Kirkland is a tool, do we really think that Haffner, who reports to him, would (were he RJ) allow his minions a higher place than himself? No.
5.) Mr. Reed? We see him once. In some random episode in season two or three I think. He's too tall, and very overweight. I don't think someone with RJ's personal determination and precision would be overweight, and RJ isn't overweight in the video we see of him or when we see him in person. Wrong voice too, too low.
That leaves us two people.6.) Bertram7.) PartridgeNow there's a lot of suspicion with Bertram, my favorite of the two, for two reasons. One is that the actor who plays him is very very good, and excelled at playing creepy domineering guy in a previous series. (24 fans, anywhere?) Two is a trickle of strange comments from Jane about him, concerning poker, his comment "I get a weird vibe from the guy" and Bertram's other concern with self-image, just like Red John. There is also the quoting of poetry in an episode that seems Red-John-esque.Unfortunately, he seems a little too old, a little too bald, and a little too easy to manipulate to be Red John, and his voice isn't nearly reedy enough.
Which leaves us with Partridge, Who is the right height, voice, and weight, as well as the right voice, and he has the creepy-domineering abusive person vibe... and his obsession with Charles Dickens seems right on the spot. but his comments about Jane doing "his thing" and suspicious placement in the season finally make him lackluster as a Red John character. Plus the actor himself has pretty much no experience whatsoever.He is too obvious I think.
Haffner is my #3.
